Planting grass seed

glen.mclellan10

Hi,

We've just finished some building work on the house and now our attention had turned to the garden. There is a very bumpy section which is about 8m by 5m. Due to costs we were thinking of laying grass seed rather than putting turf down. 

What sort of things do I need to consider and work out? According to the builders our garden is clay. I'm not if that helps. 

I'm not at all experienced with these things. Any advice I need to look out for will be very helpful.

Thank you

BobTheGardener

First thing will be to level it, otherwise mowing will be a bit of a nightmare.  Dig the area over, remove any large stones and any building debris (which you may well find on a new build, it's a very common issue.) Once roughly level, shuffle over the whole area wearing boots or wellies to re-compress the soil and then rake it level again.  I wouldn't do any of this until spring as wet clay will compact when walked upon and get worse, so keep an eye on the area over winter and note if any parts of it become waterlogged.  If they do, you'll need to dig deeper and add something to improve drainage, such as grit and compost.

glen.mclellan10

BobTheGardener says:

First thing will be to level it, otherwise mowing will be a bit of a nightmare.  Dig the area over, remove any large stones and any building debris (which you may well find on a new build, it's a very common issue.) Once roughly level, shuffle over the whole area wearing boots or wellies to re-compress the soil and then rake it level again.  I wouldn't do any of this until spring as wet clay will compact when walked upon and get worse, so keep an eye on the area over winter and note if any parts of it become waterlogged.  If they do, you'll need to dig deeper and add something to improve drainage, such as grit and compost.

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 Hi that is really helpful. Thank you. So I'll need to wait before sorting anything out!

Any advice on what type of grass seed I should get?